Player Focus: Will Dybala Prove to be an Astute Acquisition for Juventus?
After wrapping up the Scudetto with four games to spare and obliging UEFA to cut them a cheque for more than €90m upon reaching the Champions League final in Berlin, Max Allegri has delivered Juventus more time and resources to do business ahead of next season. The Old Lady has already been able to action and amplify their recruitment strategy and take steps to ensure she not only remains way out in front at home but also closes the gap even further with the elite abroad.
General manager Beppe Marotta and his deputy Fabio Paratici remain consummate opportunists. Should Juventus obtain the reassurances they’re seeking over the condition of his knee then the name of World Cup winning midfielder Sami Khedira will be added to the list of smart free transfers done by the current administration after those of Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba and Fernando Llorente. If details of that only began to emerge in recent weeks, perhaps when it became clear to Khedira that Gelsenkirchen was no longer the destination for him following Schalke’s failure to qualify for the Champions League, then the groundwork on other deals has been laid for months.
Like all smartly run clubs, Juventus give the impression of being prepared should they get an unpleasant surprise this summer. Think of how swiftly they acted after Antonio Conte decided to resign last June. That would have been enough to throw most clubs into turmoil and panic their decision-making. Get his successor wrong and the club’s winning cycle could have been put in real jeopardy. Instead, even amid great scepticism about their choice, hindsight shows they got it absolutely right.
This must instil confidence in the event that one of Juventus’ top players leaves in the summer. Andrea Pirlo has intimated that, were the team to do the treble, maybe the time would be right for him to leave [for the US]. Irreplaceable, there is no like-for-like alternative although Marchisio has deputised well and balanced Juventus’ play admirably during il Maestro’s absences through injury this season.
Pogba won’t be short of offers and it’ll be up to him whether he leaves or not. But if he decides to go it will be on Juventus’ terms. They don’t need to sell. Juventus have earned the €90m they could expect from Pogba’s sale through Champions League prize money and TV revenue alone this season and their leverage is strengthened further by the new contract he signed until 2019 earlier in the campaign. This season represents as compelling a reason to stay if ever there was one: Juventus have shown they can go the distance in Europe. They have acquired the spending power to make the team even more competitive and can match the ambition of elite players.
There’s also a case to be made that it’s in the interest of the player and the club for him to remain until after Euro 2016 rather than disrupt his development with a move: imagine a scenario whereby he takes the tournament by storm on his home turf, generates an ulterior spike in his value and then they go their separate ways. If that argument isn’t persuasive enough then Juventus will console themselves with another huge windfall and the knowledge that they won a Scudetto with this group before Pogba joined and also advanced in Europe in the time between his injury in the second leg against Dortmund and his return for the trip to the Bernabeu. Juventus have got cover too, even if Pogba is like Pirlo insofar as there are no duplicates and only imitations out there. Their skillsets are unique.
Then of course there’s Carlos Tevez. The Apache still has a year left on his contract and though he seems inclined to see it out, the reports of homesickness, nostalgia and the courtship of former club Boca Juniors rumble on in the background. Il Corriere della Sera claimed last month that if Juventus win the Champions League there is a gentleman’s agreement for him to return home and Marotta said earlier this week that it’s up to Tevez.
Old flames have been rekindled - namely those of Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao. But what of Edi Cavani. Despite official denials, talk of Juventus ‘emissaries’ holding unofficial discussions with his entourage pre-dates the renewed interest in the former duo, perhaps because deals for either of them - though expensive in wages - would be relatively cheaper in fees [one might be a loan] and could be covered with the all-profit sale of Fernando Llorente [and other off-cuts] rather than that of Pogba.
Juventus’ operations so far shouldn’t be interpreted as foreshadowing big departures. Khedira isn’t necessarily a replacement for Pogba [or Arturo Vidal] and Paulo Dybala is being signed to complement Alvaro Morata and Tevez. On the whole, Juventus deserve praise for their succession planning and the handling of the transition from one generation to another. Against Napoli on Saturday, Allegri fielded four players under the age of 23 - Pogba, Sturaro, Kingsley Coman and Morata. When you consider Roberto Pereyra has only just turned 24 and the options Juventus have to bring Daniele Rugani, Simone Zaza and Domenico Berardi to the club this summer or later, an ageing squad is preparing to get younger.
Dybala, 21, should also be set into this context and a wider one. At €28m [plus a further €8m in performance-related add-ons], he is the most expensive purchase of the Agnelli-Marotta administration after the €20m paid for Morata a year ago - a big figure given the Argentine only had a year left on his deal in Sicily. And just like then, there is a degree of scepticism about their latest investment. For instance, is Dybala really the genuine article? Marotta and Paratici will point the naysayers in the direction of Morata. Just as they were proved right with Allegri, the young Spaniard has vindicated them by overtaking Llorente in the pecking order and putting in decisive performances in the Champions League.
Questions about Dybala revolve around a number of issues, like how one-sided he is, his streakiness and ability to adapt. He’ll likely get less game time at Juventus and less space to play in than at Palermo. Teams sit deep against the champions. They tighten everything up. Opponents are not as open and emboldened as they are when they play a team like Palermo. “And things didn’t go well for Dybala a year ago when Palermo were the Juventus of Serie B,” noted Mario Sconcerti. He went more than a year without a goal even when Palermo dropped down a tier. This season, 11 of his 13 goals came between October and February. He hasn’t scored from open play in 13 games.
An explanation for that might be defenders getting wise to Dybala and the speculation about his future turning his head. Misfortune is a factor too. He has hit the woodwork five times this season - the second most in Serie A.
There’s also a debate about whether he is the same when not partnered with Franco Vazquez. Their chemistry goes a long way to explaining the season they’ve enjoyed. Vazquez has assisted Dybala four times and his teammate has returned the favour three times. Given Allegri’s penchant for No.10s - Juventus looked at Wesley Sneijder in January, were sounded out about interest in Henrikh Mkhitaryan and by his own admission this week even thought about Antonio Cassano - it’s a surprise they haven’t [yet] been bought as a pair.
But perhaps Dybala will find himself in those areas anyway. He isn’t a Mauro Icardi, an out-and-out goalscorer, a penalty box predator. His game is more well-rounded and - from their point of view it’s bad luck Inter missed out on him because as a duo they would probably have dovetailed really nicely. Dybala’s 10 assists are a league high. Sharing the record with him are No.10s like Marek Hamsik and Miralem Pjanic. This reinforces the perception of him as a creator and a finisher. He is the only player in double figures in both goals and assists.
Even if his 2015 has been quieter than his end to the last calendar year it’s still worth recalling that the likes of Del Piero, Baggio [both 6] and Totti [5] hadn’t scored as many at his age in a single season. Pippo Inzaghi [13] had done of course but the comparison there is more applicable with Icardi. In Dybala, Juventus have bought great potential. Invited to attend the Champions League final and watch his new team, treble or not, the future is bright for a rejuvenating Old Lady.
Will Dybala prove to be a success at Juventus? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below
